Bits of History - from the Big Bang to Now
In memory of Estelle
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Also by Dick de Jounge: Dear Grandkids, the Future is Yours (2011) Framtiden tillhör våra barn och barnbarn (2013) Lite historia - från Big Bang till Higgs (2013) ISBN 9 7891 7699 0896 ©2016 Dick de Jounge Prepress adaption Björn Zachrisson, Officina Fraterna Förlag och tryck BoD 2016 www.bod.se
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Bits of History
- from the Big Bang to Now By Dick de Jounge
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Contents
Contents Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Appendix Index
4 6 A timeline with discoveries and events of importance for the understanding of the universe Comments to the timeline What we now know of the universe What we know of Earth’s neighbors What will happen with our culture An outlook in the world today - and looking back in history What will happen to our planet
The Bits of History are mixed into the timeline Atom Bomb Automobiles Aviation Calendar Carbon Clock Computer DNA Electricity Enlightenment Fiber Optics 4
8 155 158 169 174 198 202 210 212
113 88 90 23 65 43 132 125 67 54 144
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Internet Laser LED Mathematics Mobile Phones Neutrino Nuclear Energy Organ Transplantation Personal computer Photography Plastics Radar Radio & TV Propeller Satellites SI-System (Metric) Steam Engine and Industrial Revolution Steam Turbine Telephone Time System Train Unfortunate Choice Vaccination Weaponry Wheel, Alphabet, Numerals
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140 127 151 45 141 152 115 128 137 75 103 121 119 79 124 123 52 95 83 25 63 83 86 72 13
Prologue
W
e all exist only a short time, but humans are curious by nature and when we do not know something with certainty we often make up something to believe in. Ignorance of the laws of nature led the ancients to invent gods for every aspect of human life. There were gods of love and war, of the sun, the earth and the sky, of oceans and rivers, rain and thunder, even for earthquakes and volcanoes. When the gods were satisfied, good weather, peace, and freedom from disasters followed. When they were unhappy, drought, war, plague and epidemics followed. Because the relationships between cause and effect were unknown to them, people were entirely dependent on the goodwill of the gods. But in today’s society, we know better. “The Earth is far from unique,” we could read in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, issue of January 19, 2013. According to new calculations by astronomers, there are at least 17 billion planets the same size as the Earth in our galaxy the Milky Way. Twenty years ago scientists knew not a single galaxy outside our own solar system. Now we know more than 2,000, and that number is increasing all the time! In the beginning of July 2012, at a seminar hosted at CERN’s new particle accelerator LHC (Large Hadron Collider) near Geneva, it was announced that scientists had most likely detected the Higgs-boson - a major step forward in our understanding of the universe. We continue to learn, but what was thought in the past? What do we know about what our ancestors knew, and who was it that contributed to 6
the knowledge we have today? Names like Aristotle, Archimedes, Newton, Einstein and others led me to become interested in the history behind what we know about the universe. My goal with this book is to create a coherent description in the form of a timeline showing how we humans have learned to experience the universe as far back as we can see, even if that is not very far relative to the vast time and space contained in the universe. History is interesting, and there is a lot to learn. But what will happen in the future? That is a completely different issue, and there is no obvious answer to retrieve from history. However, history can be helpful when you want to speculate, and I take the liberty to do that at the end of the book. Finally, I owe special thanks to Janice Battiste for proofreading and checking my English language, and to my old friend Bjรถrn Zachrisson for making a book out of my manuscript. Djursholm, Sweden in August 2016 Dick de Jounge
Note: CE BCE
= Common Era = Before Common Era 7
Chapter 1
A timeline with discoveries and events of importance for the understanding of the universe 13,8 billion years BCE The Big Bang Over the last 7,000 years mankind has learned a lot about what happened at and since the Big Bang; this is what the rest of this book is all about.
4,6 billion years BCE The Earth and other planets are created There are many creation stories in our history, among others each religion has its own, but what we now know about how Earth and the other planets were created is that 4.6 billion years ago they were formed by gravity from the solar nebula, a disk-shaped mass of dust and gas left over when a star, our Sun, was born. Up to 4 billion years ago, Earth was attacked by comets from the outer parts of the solar system. The particles from space that built up the soil came in at such a high speed that when they hit the Earth the kinetic energy was transformed to heat. The Earth was a glowing ball that eventually cooled off. It is assumed that the comets contained large amounts of ice that vaporized when they hit the surface of the Earth. As the Earth cooled, the steam condensed and began to rain down over millions of years, which 8
A timeline with discoveries and events of importance . . .
is how the oceans and lakes were created. Today 73 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. The comets contained not only water but also carbon dioxide. The very earliest atmosphere is assumed to have been dominated by carbon dioxide. The Moon formed soon thereafter, possibly as the result of a collision between Earth and another planet. A large part of this matter would have stayed on the ground of Earth while the rest would be hurled back into space. Of the matter that was thrown back into space, some ended up in orbit around the Earth. It is believed that the force of gravity created the Moon from this matter.
3,5 billion years BCE Blue-green algae in the oceans It was not until much later that life arose. How the first cell formed from simple organic molecules, however, is still of great debate. First on Earth were unicellular organisms. Cyanobacteria are organisms, also known as blue-green algae. It is believed that they were important in the oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere 3 to 4 billion years ago. Some species of cyanobacteria underwent photosynthesis, and thus oxygen was formed. Fact: Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy from the Sun into chemical energy that later can be released to fuel the organisms’ activities. This chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate molecules, such as sugars, which are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water. In most cases, oxygen is also released as a waste product. Most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis. Photosynthesis maintains atmospheric oxygen levels and supplies all of the organic compounds and most of the energy necessary for life on Earth. About 2 billion years ago, single-celled organisms with a cell nucleus appeared, which led to a rapid increase in their numbers. This meant in turn that there was more oxygen being released into the atmosphere. With the Sun’s help, this free oxygen formed the ozone layer that protects the Earth from the Sun’s ultra violet radiation. 9
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460 million years BCE Life moves up on land As the atmosphere became more oxygen-rich, life began to process faster. About 500 million years ago small multicellular worms, gastropods, cephalopods and crustaceans formed. After that came the first fish followed by the first land animals, which resembled frogs. At about the same time came giant dragonflies, which could reach the size of 75 cm between wing tips, as well as large arachnids and cockroaches. These existed in the erstwhile forests consisting of large ferns that had evolved from algae. From the terrestrial frogs came reptiles with scales, which then partly evolved into 1 to 3 meter large reptiles, and then dinosaurs, which came to dominate the animal world for 150 million years. The dinosaurs could grow up to 30 meters and lived alongside flying lizards with a wingspan of up to 9 meters. The first bird species probably came from small two-legged lizards as the first birds had many lizard-looking features, including tails. Our first ancestors splashed around in warm marshes some 400 million years ago. The movement from an aquatic life to an existence on land is perhaps one of the most dramatic steps in the development of life. The Moon’s gravitational force played an important role by causing flood and ebb, which contributed to the appropriate environment for life on land. The first creatures resembled small crocodiles more than anything else. We would have difficulty recognizing ourselves in them if we saw them today. But it was they who took the decisive step up on land, which led to our branch of the evolutionary tree, and though we look and act quite different, we are still a kind of modified fish.
65 million years BCE
Large mammals
About 60 million years ago, the dinosaurs died out. There are many theories why, the leading one being that a meteorite impact stirred up so much dust that it darkened the Sun. For some reason some mammals survived and it was these that then came to dominate the animal world. Even crocodiles, turtles, snakes and lizards survived despite the fact that these were descendants of the dinosaurs. About 25 million years ago elephants, deer and dog-related predecessors appeared. Around the same time came 10
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insectivorous monkeys that then evolved into several different humanlike species, of which only one survived - Homo Sapiens.
4 million years BCE Earliest hominids Human (Homo sapiens) is a species of the genus Homo along with, among others, the Neanderthals, Homo floresiensis and Homo erectus who all belong to the family of hominids, which in turn belongs to the order primates. Africa’s great apes that resemble human ancestors belong to another branch. The scientific name Homo sapiens was created by Carl von Linné. The Latin word homo meaning “human” and sapiens “wise.” It has been estimated that the human lineage diverged from chimpanzees about 5 million years ago. The early development of mankind took place in Africa. All fossils from our development branch from 7 million years ago to about 2 million years ago were found in Africa. Sometime less than 2 million years ago, human-like creatures, of the genus Homo spread in the world, and quickly populated large parts of Asia and Europe, all the way to Indonesia and China. During the ice ages, the water level of the oceans was significantly lower and land bridges between continents allowed for people’s movement.
1,8 million years BCE Homo erectus Homo erectus, “the first man walking on two legs,” is an extinct species of the genus Homo. This is the human species that has survived the longest time on Earth, and was the first human species that spread to several continents. Homo erectus evolved in Africa and migrated to Asia and Europe. The oldest finds have been dated to 1.8 million years. Homo erectus was still in the world just 50,000 years ago, and was thus in a short time contemporary with Homo sapiens and the Neanderthal man. They began to regularly use fire for cooking at least half a million years ago. Modern man has with great certainty its origin in Homo erectus.
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350,000 years BCE The Neanderthals The Neanderthals were prehistoric human beings in Europe and the western part of Asia from approximately 350,000 years BCE, and became extinct in Europe about 40,000 years ago. They are named after the Valley of Neanderthal in Germany, where the first fossil was found in 1856. The Neanderthals coexisted in Europe with Homo sapiens for approximately 5,000 years. We can assume that they either could not handle the competition or that they were eradicated by modern humans. It is unclear how much contact there was between the Neanderthals and the immigrants. There have been occasional fossils with “mixed� properties that could possibly be crossings of humans and the Neanderthal man.
130,000 years BCE The first Homo sapiens In Africa, approximately 130,000 years ago, Homo sapiens evolved from Homo erectus. Homo sapiens is the species all living humans belong to, as well as all other predecessors among hominids that originated in Africa. From there, mankind wandered out over the world. It is probably these first early modern humans who developed the ability of linguistic communication. Inscripted stones approximated to be 70,000 years old were found in South Africa where it is believed that Homo sapiens were able to develop symbolic thinking. Sometime around 90,000 years ago Homo sapiens reached the Middle East, and after a further 50,000 years they made inroads in Europe. Here she co-existed with the Neanderthals, which, of unknown causes, after some time became extinct. Technical progress now accelerated. Tools, fishhooks, harpoons and bows were made of stone, wood and bone. Art in form of cave paintings, carvings, engravings and clay sculptures were produced that still today can be found on cave walls, for example, in the South of France. The motifs are primarily animals. Animals, which mankind at that time probably had developed increasingly effective ways to hunt. Other art motifs were fertility symbols. Around the same time as Homo sapiens wandered into Europe they also spread to Australia, and about 12,000 years ago they walked across the Bering Strait down through the Americas. 12
A timeline with discoveries and events of importance . . .
10,000 years BCE
Agriculture, civilizations and more
About 12,000 years ago humans sought fertile river valleys and began developing agriculture and domestication of farm animals, which facilitated the development of civilizations. In Western European and Middle Eastern cultures, the first civilizations have frequently been noted as existing in Mesopotamia and Egypt, but also extended to sites in Asia and the Iranian Plateau. Other civilizations arose among cultures situated along large river valleys, notably the Indus River in the Indian subcontinent, present day Pakistan, and the Yellow River in China. Civilizations also arose independently in presentday Peru, the Andes, Mesoamerica, and Iron Age Sub-Saharan Africa. HISTORY OF THE WHEEL, THE ALPHABET AND THE NUMERALS When it comes to appointing the alltime most important invention, the wheel is usually seen as the obvious winner. When and how it was invented is not known with certainty, but that it was a very long time ago we can take for granted. The wheel was probably invented independently several times in many different places. The wheel is certainly brilliant, but nevertheless quite obvious. There are indications that wheels were used in Asia sometime 10,000 years ago, but the first actual evidence is from Mesopotamia around 5,500 years ago. An important step in the development of the wheel was spokes. About 2,000 BCE wheels with spokes were used in Egypt. Since then, the development of the wheel has continued to spin. Another important development for our understanding of the universe is the Alphabet. Alphabet history stretches back to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Two types of characters are well documented from before the end of the 4 000’s BCE, Cuneiform and Hieroglyphs. The Hieroglyphics evolved with the influence of the Mesopotamian cuneiform, and were used from around 3,300 BCE to 300 CE. After this time the Egyptians turned to a variant of the Greek alphabet and hieroglyphs fell into oblivion. 13
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From Egypt, the hieroglyphic system was passed to Phoenicia*) where it was refined into a Phoenician Alphabet, and from there it was passed on to the Greeks. In Greece, the script was modified to add vowels, giving rise to the first true alphabet. The Greeks took letters that did not represent sounds that existed in Greek, and changed them to represent the vowels. This marks the creation of a “true” alphabet, with both vowels and consonants as explicit symbols in a single script. In its early years, there were many variants of the Greek alphabet, a situation that caused many different alphabets to evolve. One form of the Greek alphabet was carried over by Greek colonists to the Italian peninsula, where it gave rise to a variety of alphabets used to inscribe the Italic languages. One of these became the Latin alphabet, which was spread across Europe as the Romans expanded their empire. Even after the fall of the Roman state, the alphabet survived in intellectual and religious works. It eventually became used for the descendant languages of Latin and then for the other languages of Europe. What happened to the Egyptian hieroglyphs, which had fallen into oblivion? These symbols could not be understood until Napoleon’s soldiers in 1799 happened to find a stone with inscriptions when excavating near the city of Rosetta, about five miles northeast of Alexandria in the Nile Delta. The breakthrough for the interpretation of the Rosetta Stone did not happen until 1822 through comparative studies of the three parallel texts on the stone. The stone has inscriptions consisting of 14 lines hieroglyphic, 32 lines demotic, and 54 lines of Greek. Thanks to the interpretation of hieroglyphics, we now know a lot about the early history of Egypt.
*) Phoenicia was an ancient Semitic civilization situated on the eastern Mediterranean seaboard and centered on the coastline of modern Lebanon. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BCE to 300 BCE). 14
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In the Swedish language a variant of the Latin alphabet is used. It consists of 29 upper and lowercase letters (29 if you count with both V and W). In addition, come numbers, currency symbols, grammatical signs etc. If you count all the characters, the Swedish literary language consists of a little over 100 characters. In Swedish and other Western languages, the Arabic Numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 are used. They originated in India about 400 BCE. Through the Arabic Empire they spread in the Middle Ages to Europe, where they eventually got their current look, and from where they finally spread over large parts of the World.
6th Century BCE
Classical Greece
It was in the ancient Greek Islands that the first known philosophers lived sometime around the 600 to 500th century BCE. Here the poet Homer had appeared a few hundred years earlier, and it is this area we now know as “the cradle of culture.” With the philosopher and scientist Thales (ca. 624 to 546 BCE) began a change. An anecdote about Thales states that while he was walking in the evening he looked up at the starry sky and happened to fall into a well. This event has been interpreted in many ways. However, he rejected the mythological explanations and expressed the idea that nature followed a pattern that could be interpreted. This began a long process of replacing the notion of deities governing our universe with laws of nature that we one day may comprehend. Thales belonged to a group of nature philosophers who appeared in the city of Miletus in Ionia, a part of western Turkey, which was then a part of the Greek archipelago. The area became a center of enlightenment with advances in scientific thinking, natural explanations, and the use of rational and scientific criticism to all of life’s questions. They got their ideas from ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Greece. The area was ruled at this time not by any empire, but by smaller autonomous units. They were a seafaring people and their central location meant that they could be in contact with southwest Asia, Phoenicia, Egypt, Italy and southern France. They were able to exchange both materials and ideas with others, especially the 15
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Eastern cultures, which contributed to the enlightenment at their time. They ignored the gods from their reasoning and stated that everything happens naturally and untied from any god’s will. They tried to explain the world through their senses and not through fabrications. Among the best known names are Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes, and they are considered to be some of the first known scientists. Thales was very successful and used geometry to solve problems such as calculating the height of the pyramids or the distance to ships at sea. He is famous for being the first individual to which a mathematical discovery has been creditted. Thales’ theorem: If A, B and C are points on a circle, with the side AC as diameter of the circle, then the angle ABC is a right angle.
Anaximander (c. 610 – 546 BCE), friend and pupil of Thales, pointed out that a newborn baby cannot survive, and man must therefore have evolved from other animals whose children can survive after birth. He also proposed that the first animals on Earth came out of the water. It can be seen as an early sign of the evolutionary principle. Anaximenes (585 – 528 BCE), was a pupil of Anaximander. He believed that the origin of everything is air or mist, and that everything could be reduced to this element. If air is compressed, he said, water and soil is formed; diluted it becomes fire. Air can therefore be turned into water or fire and matter by condensation or dissolving. Anaximenes was on the trail towards modern atomic physics when he realized, through his philosophy, that everything consists of the same microscopic particles, which we now know as protons, neutrons, and electrons. What differed was the condition they were in, or as Anaximenes put it, how much they were compressed or separated.
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